As it introduced a range of new iPads at its live event, Apple decided that it is time to drop the price of iPad Air, iPad mini 2 and the iPad mini.

While announcing that the original iPad Air, iPad mini and the iPad mini with Retina display will be around until the new versions start to ship next week, Apple's VP of Worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, announced that these "older" devices will be getting a price cut.

The predecessor of the thinner and more powerful iPad Air 2, the iPad Air will start at US $399 for the WiFi only 16GB version, iPad mini 2, aka iPad mini with Retina diplay, will start at US $299 for the 16GB WiFi version and the iPad mini has dropped down to US $249 for the 16GB WiFi only version.

While they might not be around for long, iPad Air does not sound like a bad deal now that the price has dropped and the $249 iPad mini is the cheapest Apple tablet to date.

As rumored and expected, Apple has officially unveiled the iPad Air successor at the "It's been way too long" event in Cupertino. The thinner and more powerful iPad Air 2 features a new processor and screen.

Before showing off the new iPad Air 2, Apple noted that the company managed to sell over 225 million iPad devices since they first launched in 2010. At 6.1mm the new iPad Air 2 is 18 percent thinner than the predecessor, which was enough for Apple to call it "the world's thinnest tablet". While the design has not significantly change, the new iPad Air 2 is still looking, well, like an iPad.

While the display size and resolution have not changed from 9.7-inch and 2048x1536, which add up to 264 ppi of pixel density, Apple claims that it managed to make the panel thinner by fusing three layers into one, which also resulted in more vivid colors and greater contrast. Apple also coated the display with some sort of anti-reflective coating, claiming that it is the least reflective display of any tablet in the world.

While the look has not changed, apart from obvious diet, the performance side of the new iPad Air 2 certainly did. As expected, Apple iPad Air 2 is based on a new 64-bit A8X SoC which, according to Apple, has 2.5x faster graphics and 40 percent faster GPU compared to its predecessor. The new SoC, paired up with a yet to be detailed battery, allow the iPad Air to keep going for 10 hours, which is the same as the predecessor. The new A8X SoC is also paired up with the M8 co-processor used mostly for sensors.

As expected, the new iPad Air 2 also got the Touch ID sensor which is crucial for Apple Pay, as well as a new 802.11ac dual-channel MIMO WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and 4G LTE connectivity. Apple also updated both cameras on the new iPad Air 2, so the rear one is now an 8-megapixel f/2.4 iSight camera capable of recording 1080p video (with 120fps slow motion recording), while the front one is now a FaceTime HD camera with f/2.2 aperture and a new sensor. The front camera now has improved face detection, has an ability to shoot burst mode selfies and HDR photos and videos.

According to Apple, iPad Air 2 pre-orders will start as of tomorrow, October 17th, while it should ship out and be available as of October 24th. The iPad Air 2 will be available in three color choices, silver, space grey and gold and the price starts at US $499 for the 16GB WiFi-only model, US $599 for the 64GB one and US $699 for the 128GB WiFi-only model. The same models will be available in 4G LTE versions but with a US $130 premium.

Sources are whispering to us that Apple will be offering the next iPad Air in the color gold as well as the silver and space grey options. The move aligns the new iPad Air with the color choices already offered on the iPhone.

The reason for the move might be a little more simple that they just want to offer the same color as the iPhone comes in. Actually, the gold color models apparently are quite popular and are selling rather well, so we can expect the iPad Air in gold to sell well as well.

Beyond the gold color, we should expect that the iPad Air 2 will also get the Touch ID finger print recognition which is again no surprise. It is also expected that the iPad Mini will get a new Retina display as well, again this was something expected last time around that didn’t happen.

Our sources believe that an iPad event will come in October with the new iPads to follow. It is also believed that chances are high that Apple will finally refresh the Apple TV at this event as well.

The first iPad Air reviews went live yesterday and they were overwhelmingly positive. The Air is much thinner than its predecessor, yet it’s superior in practically every way, although GPU performance seems a bit sluggish compared to the fourth generation iPad.

This is hardly surprising, as Apple had more than two years to perfect the design and come up with a tablet that’s thinner than the old iPad 2. This was not technically feasible in the past two generations, as they were powered by huge A5X and A6X SoCs, with significantly bigger GPUs than their counterparts used in the iPhone 4S and 5. Now it’s using the A7 on the iPhone and both iPads, for better or for worse.

The only thing reviewers moaned about was the price. It’s the same as it’s ever been, but many argue Apple should try going a bit lower, as the market has moved on since 2010. The iPad mini is even pricier than its predecessor and we’ll hear more of the same when the reviews show up.

That got us thinking – what can you get on tight a budget, in terms of components? Granted, most of these designs won’t get any love from people looking for premium products like iPads or flagship Android tablets from Asus and other companies, but from a purely hardware perspective they are quite interesting.

If you are looking for a WUXGA display on the cheap, it’s possible to pick up a 2048x1536 IPS tablet in the US for $200 to $210. Prices in Europe start at €159. This will buy you and Archos tablet with a dual-core A9 clocked at 1.6GHz, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. The vast majority of cheap WUXGA Android tablets are powered by cheap quad-core A7 processors and they ship with 1 or 2 gigs of RAM and 8 to 16GB of storage. It’s also possible to pick up a few 1080p or 1920x1200 tablets for about the same money, often with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage and some of them are powered by quad A9 chips.

This makes them cheaper than the new Nexus 7, let alone an iPad. However, we wouldn’t recommend a high resolution tablet with a dual-core A9 or a quad-core A7, with mid-range Mali 400 or PowerVR SGX 544MP2 graphics.

Going a step higher you can pick up the old Nexus 10 for €299 or a Toshiba Excite Pro for about €370 or $449. Both feature 1600p screens and the Tosh packs a powerful Tegra 4 SoC and for many users they are a good alternative to Apple’s offerings.

If you’re looking for something other than Android, the HP Omni 10 features a Bay Trail Atom Z3770 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and a 1920x1200 screen and of course it’s a Windows 8 tablet. The Asus Transformer Book T100TA is available for €340/$399 and it’s also a Bay Trail tablet with 32GB of storage and 2GB of RAM, plus it ships with a keyboard dock, so it could even replace your ultraportable, or old netbook, but it doesn’t have a full HD panel like the HP.

A number of even cheaper Windows 8 tablets are showing up for $299, including the Acer Iconia W3 and Dell Venue 8. However, if we were to pick up a Windows tablet capable of running proper x86 applications, we’d go for something a bit bigger, with a keyboard. At the other end of the scale, Haswell tablets, including the Surface Pro 2, are going after high-end iPad SKUs and they could be an interesting alternative for business users.

Bottom line, was it time for Apple to go $50 or $100 lower? Not really. Although it’s possible to get a Retina class tablet for half as much as an entry level iPad Air, such designs are not an alternative to an iPad and you might even be better off with a lower resolution Android tablet with a faster application processor. The $399 iPad mini with Retina might be a different story, as it’s going up against big brand Android tablets in the 7- to 8-inch space, and there are quite a few good ones at half the price.

However, moving forward Apple might be forced to react, but we doubt it will do it by lowering the price of next generation iPads. The last two years were a bit strange in terms of iPad evolution and as a result Apple is now in the awkward situation of offering the ancient iPad 2 and first-gen iPad mini for $399 and $299 respectively. Both ship with outdated processors and 1024x768 screens and they don’t offer much in terms of value, but next year Apple will ditch them and probably offer the current generation iPads at a discount. Anyone who goes out and gets an iPad 2 for $399 needs to have their head examined, but next year you’ll probably be able to get the iPad Air for the same money, which should be a good deal.

Bottom line, don’t expect cheaper iPads anytime soon. If Windows 8 tablets take off, if brand name Android tablets get even cheaper and better in the meantime, Apple could start facing more pressure in 2015, but that’s a lot of “ifs” and that’s two years down the line. There is one thing Apple could and should do next year – it really should reduce storage prices. In addition, new SoCs with integrated LTE will make competing data-enabled tablets a bit cheaper and Apple might be forced to respond. Apple won’t have to change the entry level price, but it could have to slash the prices of LTE-enabled iPads with more storage.

Apple has produced an overpriced tablet which does not really have enough functions to justify the price tag. That is more or less what the reviews of the Apple iPad Air actually say, although to have to skim through tons of fluff and promotional statements before anyone will admit it.

Generally the only Apple reviews which receive any publicity are those written by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Both are famous for praising anything Apple produces. Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg called the iPad Air the best tablet he has ever reviewed.

Mossberg has been known to say bad things about Apple stuff in the past, but this time he waxed lyrical about it.

Damon Darlin of the New York Times said the gadget is a delight to use, with two antennas to pull in Wi-Fi signals faster than the previous versions did. Darlin is new to the Apple beat after taking over from Jobs’ Mob sycophant David Pogue. Pogue has gone on to write Apple press releases for Yahoo.

Needless to say he claimed that the iPad Air is "a fantastic leap into the future if you're upgrading from an original iPad, or if you've never owned a tablet before."

Actually it isn’t and sadly the reviewers know that. True the tablet is slimmer but it has a slower GPU than the last one, but it tries to make up with a 64-bit CPU. But all three reviewers have to admit that the iPad Air is far too pricey for what you get. Darlin said that the iPad improvements were "incremental, not revolutionary" and if you had an older tablet you probably did not need to buy this one.

Amazon’s 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX costs $379, Microsoft's Surface 2 starts from $449 and there are tons of Android tablets in between. Even Pogue said that given the price, an iPad probably does not need replacing every year or even every other year. Mossberg sheeplishly admitted that if you can afford it, the new iPad Air is the tablet he’d recommend.

But face it, who can afford a massive mark-up when non-Apple products are about the same or even better for couple of hundred less? That is a lot to pay for an Apple logo, particularly if you already have an Apple tablet.

This might be a problem in the long run. Windows 8 tablets are getting cheaper and Android tablets are already ridiculously cheap, yet Apple chose to stick to the same price for the big iPad and it even jacked up the price of the new iPad mini to $399.

The new iPad Air and iPad mini should work in 34 countries and we will pick a few carriers that should work with.

In the US the new iPads will work on AT&T, Verizon and T-mobile but also on Aio, Bluegrass, C Spire, GCI, Sprint and US Cellular the total of 9 providers. In Canada they work on Bell (including Virgin), MTS, Rogers (including Fido), Sasktel and Telus (including Koodo).

In Germany they work on T-mobile and Vodafone, in France on Bouygues, Orange and SFR, in the UK on EE and Vodafone in Spain on Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone. The list is way too long to go country by country but some smaller countries such as Austria and Czech republic and already on the list which was not the case before.

The complete list is below, but the 5th generation iPad Air and the new retina iPad mini will work in even more countries and providers as long as they support one of 14 listed bands. The fourth generation iPad and iPad mini were coming in two different models, fit for North America or for the rest of the world.

Frequent travellers will like the fact that the list of supported bands and countries was expanded, but at the same time they would have to pay attention not to burn their wallets with usual insanely expensive data rates abroad.

And here come the new iPads, the obvious highlight of the Apple’s Special Event. It’s time to raise the bar once again and it’s been a while since Apple introduced a properly innovative iPad – in fact, the iPad mini and the iPad 4 were rather underwhelming at launch, but this time around it’s different, well, somewhat different.

So far Apple has shipped 170 million iPads and Tim Cook used the opportunity to poke fun at negative iPad reviews circa 2009. He also noted that iPads rank number one in terms of user satisfaction and that people just use them more than competing tablets. He also noted that iOS has 475,000 “iPad apps” – or apps that were specifically designed for tablets, which is not the case with most Android apps.

After a short propaganda video, SVP of marketing Phil Schiller took to the stage to finally talk new iPads.

The iPad Air is the new name for the new 9.7-incher. The bezel is smaller than ever, 43 percent smaller than the old one. The Air is just 7.5mm thin, on par with the Sony Tablet Z. Better yet, it weighs a single pound, or 454g. It’s the lightest full-sized tablet out there. It is worth noting that we are looking at the same 9.7-inch IPS LCD 2048x1536 Retina screen seen earlier.

The new iPad Air is powered with new 64-bit desktop class architecture that we saw in iPhone 5S. The A7 chip has 2 times more general purpose registers , two times floating point registers and 1 billion transistors, along with an integrated M7 motion coprocessor. Unlike previous iPads, the Air its doesn’t have an “X” processor with a bigger graphics core than the iPhone version. It appears to be the exact same A7 SoC, maybe with a different clock, but again it's enough to make it two times faster than the A6X from the iPad 4. It’s 8x faster than the first generation iPad and the GPU is 72 times faster.

In addition to the new 64-bit architecture and new GPU, the new iPad also has MIMO technology to help speed up wifi and LTE support has been expanded to cover more markets.

It also packs a new 5-megapixel camera, dual microphones and a new FaceTime HD camera. It will be available in silver, white, gray and black – which means there’s more choice than ever. The price hasn’t changed, it still starts at $499.

Oh, but there’s no Touch ID. That’s a surprise.

Oddly enough, the ancient iPad 2 will still be available for $399, for the less than sane market.